Supportive Housing Lowers Public and Hospital Costs

October 29, 2013

The Economic Roundtable

A new study by the Economic Roundtable found that by targeting the 10% of chronically homeless patients with the highest public and hospital costs (the 10th decile) with permanent supportive housing, annual public and hospital costs were significantly reduced.

The study followed 163 hospital patients in Los Angeles from April 2011 to May 2013 screened by the 10th Decile Project, which works which hospitals to identify the 10th decile and provide them with supportive housing.

The study found that while the 10th decile patients were homeless, they had a total annual average public and hospital cost of $63,808. Once housed, this number dropped to $16,913. According to the report, “taking costs for housing subsidies and supportive services into account, every $1 dollar in local funds spent to house and support 10th decile patients is estimated to reduce public and hospital costs for the evaluation population that was housed by $2 in the first year and $6 in subsequent years.”

This initiative is similar to the Social Innovation Fund (SIF) in Connecticut that strives to identify high-cost utilizers of health services who are homeless and match them with supportive housing.